Jason Witten wanted to punch Sean Payton

It was at the end of a casual team meeting at the 2007 Pro Bowl in Hawaii that NFC coach Sean Payton turned to one of his all-star quarterbacks and said, "Tony, you'll hold."

It was supposed to be a joke. Tony Romo, with half a regular-season of starts and one miserable playoff memory on his NFL resume, managed a polite laugh. "I don't want to speak for Tony," eyewitness Jason Witten recalled this week, "but I would have wanted to punch Payton." The "hold," of course, was a reference to Romo's final play of the season. Or rather it was supposed to be a hold. Instead, it was a bobble. Then came a desperation run and tackle from behind. All told, the sequence cost the Cowboys a chance to win their first playoff game in a decade.